Enemies
by NilaSagol
Summary: Near and Mello always had a rivralry. A few years later Near is sick with cancer and is dying from it as the condition gets worse. He loses all the will he has left live as he gets weaker. one day, Mello visits him probably for the last time. MelloxNear


**A/N: This is a one shot and is also a short story used for my project in English class which deals with themes. I decided to choose Mello and Near's rivralry as a focus on the story but it's very sad. I hope you guys like it.**

**_Enemies_**

Near had been fighting it for years, this time he finally accepted that he was no longer able to be strong, his body began failing. First it was his mood, then his eating, now "it" attacked his nerves.

Now he laid in a hospital bed. Seeing his last days. Growing more and more resistant to food, cursing away that he couldn't stop the mass murderer at large and yelling at the nurses and doctors to let him go home. He wanted to die at home not at a hospital

He felt like a prisoner.

The door cracked open, the nurse walked in, "Alright, Near." She said tenderly, "Time for your medicine, you know we don't want to do this the hard way."

Near just glared, "Leave me, don't come near me! I'm sick of the medicine...My body already can't take the stupid morphine!"

Near slammed his body back against the pillows. He just couldn't take the pain. He just couldn't take the pain and the tears. He hated to be upset, he hated be limited with trying to solve cases, he was slowly dying and he didn't know. He didn't even have the strength anymore to build his towers and do his favorite hobbies. Near was a quiet genius, now he was a reduced to a sick, depressed, suicidal person.

"Go away! I want to die, no more morphine!" Near screamed as the doctors came in and gave him the doses of morphine into Near's body. He cursed again, he had said no. No more medication, no more food, and no more visitors. He laid back and bed and one thought enraged him to anger. Yes, this was the work of Mello.

Mello couldn't wait for his rival to be dead. The nurse looked at Near.

She set up his pillows, "Near, you have a visitor, he's waiting outside."

Near scoffed, the words were dreadful to him, "Let me guess, this person is in leather clothes with a rosary cross and blonde hair."

"Yes, he wants to see you..."

"Screw him, I told him to never visit me, he'll only make things worse." Near struggled to sit up, "I hate him..."

Near never used to hate Mello, he thought his jealousy and his ambition to be number 1 was just a childish way of Mello expressing himself. Near thought it was funny but now he thought this was revenge for Mello's failures and for Mello trying to beat him.

Near was too weak now, Mello was in the lead now. He could take over the whole case if he wanted to, there was no way Near had anymore strength or thought to try and finish what he started. He already failed because he was too sick, he gave up months ago.

The door creaked open a little as Mello appeared, not dressed as usual; he was dressed like he was dressed for a funeral. He was dressed extra sharp, Near guessed that there had been a death in his mafia and he looked like he wasn't done dealing with the death.

What the hell was Mello doing? Near never thought they would meet face to face again.

Near looked directly at Mello, "Hello, Mello." His tone, harsh as ever, "what the hell are you doing here?! Are you adding to my misery?!

Mello didn't answer, he remained serious but sad, "...Near, I came to visit you. Look, can't I have some sympathy, I feel like I need to give...you sympathy."

Near couldn't believe it, his no.1 rivral feeling sorry for his pain. This had to be a mistake, one mistake on Mello's part. Near had CLEARLY stated that Mello was a restricted visitor. He told the nurses and the doctors to restrict Mello from visiting but that didn't work.

Near sat up painfully as he clenched his teeth, "What?! You have no right to visit, you always strived to surpass me, you'd do anything! Well, I'm finally weakened so no you're going to have your glory!"

Mello bit his lip, what was wrong with him? The tough Mafia leader wasn't acting so tough, his emotional side had jammed him in the sides. Tears streamed out of his eyes, he was crying. Crying was something Mello never did, he never showed that he was sad.

He lowered his head.

"Near...Please, this isn't for me." Mello began to shake, "N-Near, Let me make it up to you, I have to make it up to you."

Near laid back as he let out a moan, "It's too late, I could be dying for all we care, it is too late, Mello."

Near began coughing and gasping as Mello watched Near struggle to reach for some water, it fell to the floor as it smashed. Near threw a fit, he just couldn't handle being sick and being limited of his actions; what a failure his body was, it was just too weak to anymore.

He began gasping and coughing, he was having an episode, "M-Mello...L-look, look in the drawer...Use it..."

Mello looked in the drawer as he saw a syringe full of Potassium Chloride, this was assisted suicide. Mello was now his link to getting to death, Mello didn't know what to do, he looked at the deadly syringe. He now had could make the choice between helping Near die or not doing it all.

Mello couldn't believe this, the disease reduced Near to this; to a depressed, pessimistic, 19 year old, "Near, I'm not doing this!" Mello dropped the syringe, "You shouldn't rush death, it may be happening but your better off dying slow than rushing and getting me into trouble."

Near got up again painfully as he glared, "...Damn it! Do it, Mello! I've lost my will to live!" Near laid back and gasped painfully, "Mello, put me out of misery!"

Mello saw the syringe appear back in his hands, "My friends can shoot up but what makes you think I want to use this "tool of death?" Near this is murder, no, it is murder."

"Mello..." Near's voice was pained, "I want to die. Please, let me die."

Mello froze as he dropped the syringe, he couldn't. It wasn't the same as it once was with Near, he used to hate him. Now it changed, he was feeling heartache, something he never felt before. Near was getting weaker, he just couldn't bare staying awake.

He was too tired, just too tired, always tired, and always weak. What did he live for? To wake up and suffer all over again, that's how it was as the days passed and they turned into months then years.

Near began to breathe slower as Mello went to his bedside and knelt down to see Near, he could see how scarred he was from the condition. His eyes showed pain, his eyes showed death, his body was brittle, his soul was just about beaten, and he was defeated.

Mello just couldn't take it in one sitting, he had to mourn for a lost member and now he had to mourn for a dying enemy that was slowly dancing with death in his arms. Mello never thought he would feel so much heartache for someone he hated so much and now he was feeling it, he finally felt it.

He pressed his hands against Near's cheek. Fever. It was the second time in a day that he had it. Mello just realized he had cancer, he was going to die. He was always so sick and Mello thought it was all a lie in their rivalry.

Mello's tears hit the floor, "Near...I'm so sorry, it took me until now to realize how serious this is, Why was I so cold?"

Near coughed and barely spoke, "...I probably deserve it for messing with Kira and for always being number 1."

Mello sat up as his shoulder length hair hung his face, "I didn't wish for this to happen to you, I'm sorry Near. Look what I did, act like being number 1 was my ambition...It wasn't right."

Near grabbed Mello's hand as he began to wheeze, "Promise me this, Mihael." Mello jumped, Near was using his real name, "I want you to pick up the syringe and end my life. Please Mello, let me die."

Mello tears turned into cries, "This isn't right, Near...Assisted suicide is like murder, I don't want to feel like it isn't."

Near got up violently, he just wasn't getting his way, "Mello! You're making this too difficult, I want to die! I can't take the pain anymore, I can't the medicines anymore, I can't take staying in the hospital anymore, and I can't take feeling like crap everyday as my body starts failing me!"

Reality hit Mello hard, he wasn't used to it. He had run from it at 14 and now he was 20, it had hit him hard now as an adult. He knew that Near just couldn't deal with it anymore, he was finished, he was done fighting.

Near was dying and he was fading away slowly as Mello watched him in his arms. He wasn't the blooming rose he once was, his petals(all but two) remained on his stem(body). The other petal fell, now all that was left was one. The rose began to lose all it's life and purity.

Mello put the syringe on Near's bed as Near reached painfully for the execution tool, he whimpered and cried as he tried to reach it and use what was left of it to inject himself and overdose all together.

Mello took it away; he just couldn't take a chance with all this happening, Near needed to accept the fact that death was coming and that it was better to accept it's slowness, it was Near's last chance to get out anything he needed to before he would leave forever.

Near's coughs turned into wheezing gasps, "Mello..." Near was finding even more difficult to breathe, Mello picked up Near as he put him closer to his side, "Mello, there isn't...Anything they can do now..."

_**'**Too late? It is too late, look at him.'_Thought Mello, as more tears poured out of his sea blue eye,_ 'I can't believe this, he's really going to--'_

Mello's thoughts were interrupted as Near began gasping and wheezing as he really struggled to breathe, Mello was split in half. He wanted to get a doctor but he wanted leave Near like he was. He just couldn't make a decision, he always could, why couldn't he now?

Near looked so horrible, the scars of sickness was everywhere. His silent gray eyes cried: Help but his mind cried: Death. He was going with his mind, he was choosing to die and once it happened it was final. There was no reversing or going back once death took place.

Mello saw a nurse passing by as Near glared and wheezed, "M-Mello, don't...Please, promise me that I can die in piece."

Mello hugged Near with all the strength he had, more than just tears hit the floor. Spilling water hit the floor, "NEAR!! What have I done?! This stupid rivalry, it made no sense to be rivals! It hurts, I've never felt this kind of hurt and I almost thought you dying would get you out of my way."

Near's eyes were half-open, "Mello, M-Mello...Mello" Near got enough strength to put his hands on his cheek as he wheezed again, "It's not your fault, I've been sick for years. This is how it is, we all can't avoid death. It happens to all of us, sooner or later."

Mello threw out the syringe, "You don't need this anymore, you will die right here, in my arms. I owe it to you."

Near smiled, it was so powerful to Mello. He would never smile in front of him and now he was, he finally accepted death. Mello also felt that they're friendship had changed, they were finally friends.

Finally after six years, the chains of rivalry broke. It was all in both of their pasts.

It didn't last long, their moment of peace. Near's gasping faded as his eyes slowly closed, he looked at Mello for a few seconds as he barely got out his last words. He began speaking.

"...Mello...You...are...my...friend."

Mello didn't know how to react to what Near said as he looked around his room, he never thought he could go through two deaths in one day. Near brought him to tears, he wanted to know what it would've been like if Near had lived past 19 but it was too late.

Mello grasped Near tighter, "Wait, Near. Please...Please don't go, come on, I'm going to fix this right now..." Mello shook him as he only moved slightly, "Near, I messed up. I want us to start over."

"We...Will...Mello..."

Mello's hand found it's way onto Near's heart. He watched Near slip away as he laid lifeless in his arms, Mello hugged Near tighter. Mello didn't want to be upset, he wanted to start over but now he would always remember that there was nothing he could've done for Near, what he did was the best thing Near had wanted at that time.

Mello looked out the window of the room as he still cradled Near, "Near, we have started over, I'm glad you see it that way."

In reality, enemies will always hate each other but the hate isn't as strong if they're weakened. Friendship can be so strong that it can break the barrier of enemies, hate can only be so strong if the fire is fed and the flames burn everything in sight.

But in this fire, the flames went to ashes.

* * *

**Please R&R.**


End file.
